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In response to Goody’s question above about Snell’s grasp on a rotation spot, I’d have to say that unless Jack Z signs two veteran starters this winter, Ian would have to struggle pretty badly in spring training not to open the season in the M’s rotation. It’s doubtful he’ll be given a long leash, but he is guaranteed $4.25 million in 2010, so it’s hard to imagine him in long relief or in Tacoma.

sodomojo95 on
January 3rd, 2010 7:45 pm

After reading that analysis you have to ask: why did we want this guy?

diderot on
January 3rd, 2010 8:12 pm

Hopefully Adair has this same info

Exactly. As a matter of fact, I think it’s safe to presume that the M’s had all of this data when they made the trade. I think the most underrated Mariner last year was Adair…so I keep the faith.

Slurve on
January 3rd, 2010 9:33 pm

Holy great barrels of lard Batman! Where did the control go?!?!

He’s a project and I hope we can fix him.

Pete Livengood on
January 3rd, 2010 9:52 pm

Translation: this guy lost his control (I think we all saw that last year, here), and his mechanics and location are such that an average velocity fastball will appear to be far below average.

Unless Snell reaquaints himself with his control, I don’t think he can be successful, especially in the American League.

JMHawkins on
January 3rd, 2010 9:53 pm

Seems to be a case of new research proving an old conventional wisdom – you gotta pitch inside.

As concerning as the article is, this made me laugh:but he is guaranteed $4.25 million in 2010, so itâ€™s hard to imagine him in long relief or in Tacoma.
Yeh, cuz a guaranteed contract worked to keep Silva and Batista in the rotation.

It’s a sunk cost. If Snell isn’t one of our 5 or 6 best starters, he won’t be getting the ball every 5 days.

Mekias on
January 4th, 2010 7:20 am

I was feeling pretty good about our rotation. Morrow and Snell I thought would be adequate with some upside. But now with Morrow gone and this article forcing me to re-evaluate Snell’s “upside”, I’m very worried about the #4 and #5 spots. We really do need to sign another starter.

John S. on
January 4th, 2010 9:22 am

I have never felt good about having Snell in our rotation. It’s one of the primary reasons I didn’t like the Morrow trade – aside from the apparent inequality of the deal. Snell is a poor man’s Pineiro – at best. And that means he has no business in the AL. Jack must get a No. 3 starter for this team to be successful in 2010.

illdonk on
January 4th, 2010 9:24 am

Not being able to handle the pressure of pitching in Pittsburgh never struck me as a very positive sign…

thurston24 on
January 4th, 2010 10:03 am

This is what pitching coaches are for. You have to believe that part of Jack Z’s process for obtaining Snell icluded asking Rick Adair if he could fix him. Also, I’m sure GMZ is well aware of the propensity of Snell to avoid pitching inside like the Plague. This is how you develop talent and become effective, you find talent with inherit flaws and coach the flaws out of them. Remember “in Z we trust.”

Allegedly the mental issues were a big problem, and you couldn’t expect any associated problems, including his control, to immediately disappear with a new organization and no real downtime to mentally refresh, reacclimate and, most of all, work on making adjustments to his approach. There’s typically not enough time to make significant improvement to existing problems in-season.

With an offseason to work out and/or clear his head, I think we’ll have a much better idea of how effective Snell is after ST. If he still can’t consistently find the zone in the start of 2010, then it may be time to reevalutate his role with the team and powercycle through the other SP options.

This of course assumes the other options don’t take a blow-away step forward before April 2010 and emerge as a clearly superior option for Snell’s SP slot.

AdamN on
January 4th, 2010 11:21 am

Jack must get a No. 3 starter for this team to be successful in 2010.

Sorry I must call this type of comment out. So do we need a power hitter to be successful in 2010 too?

John S. on
January 4th, 2010 11:38 am

Sorry I must call this type of comment out. So do we need a power hitter to be successful in 2010 too?

What does one have to do with the other? Those are independent statements. If you think Felix and Lee followed by RRS and then who knows who is enough … well, good luck.